Armed police have been deployed following a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Police declared a “critical incident” at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Dean Avenue and said an “active shooter” was in the area. Radio New Zealand (RNZ), the public broadcaster, cited a witness as saying he had seen four people on the

Armed police have been deployed following a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Police declared a “critical incident” at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Dean Avenue and said an “active shooter” was in the area.

Radio New Zealand (RNZ), the public broadcaster, cited a witness as saying he had seen four people on the ground and “blood everywhere”.

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Another person claimed a man had opened fire inside the mosque with an automatic weapon, while witness Len Peneha told AP he saw a man dressed in black enter the building before shots rang out.

Mr Peneha said he then saw the gunman flee before police arrived and that when he went inside he saw “dead people everywhere”.

leftCreated with Sketch.

rightCreated with Sketch.

1/50 14 March 2019

Relatives of crash victims mourn and grieve at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday killing all 157 on board, south-east of Addis Ababa. The French air accident investigation authority said that it will handle the analysis of the black boxes retrieved from the crash site and they have already arrived in France but gave no time frame on how long the analysis could take

AP

2/50 13 March 2019

Men carry a child who was rescued at the site of a collapsed building containing a school in Lagos, Nigeria

Reuters

3/50 12 March 2019

A crab stuck in plastic in Verde Island Passage, Philippines. According to data from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Filipinos dispose 163 million pieces of single-use plastic sachets daily. An underwater exploration conducted by Greenpeace in Batangas, found single-use plastic sachets between, beneath, and on the corals and seabed of Verde Island Passage, the epicenter of marine biodiversity in the world

EPA

4/50 11 March 2019

Representatives of bereaved families from the affected prefecture offer flowers at an altar for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during the 8th national memorial service in Tokyo on. On March 11, 2011 a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake struck under the Pacific Ocean and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.

AFP/Getty

5/50 10 March 2019

South Sudanese Catholic faithful believers attend a church service in Udier town

AFP/Getty

6/50 9 March 2019

Activists of Ukrainian nationalist parties scuffle with police officers during a rally to demand an investigation into the corruption of Ukraine’s armed forces officials, in Kiev

Reuters

7/50 8 March 2019

Algerian protesters demonstrate against their ailing president’s bid for a fifth term in power, in Algiers

AFP/Getty

8/50 7 March 2019

French gendarmes arrive for evacuation as prison guards block the entrance to the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France, two days after a prison inmate seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid. – The prison of Alencon / Conde-sur-Sarthe, where two guards were seriously stabbed on March 5 by a radicalized detainee, was blocked again on March 7 by about a hundred prison guards.

AFP/Getty

9/50 6 March 2019

Hindu devotees participate in a traditional activity known locally as “Perang Api” or fire war one day ahead of Nyepi in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Devotees in Indonesia will celebrate Nyepi day or the “Day of Silence” on March 7, the first day of the Saka Lunar calendar

AFP/Getty

10/50 5 March 2019

Time exposure photo shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara seen from Stearns Wharf in the city’s harbor. The storm soaked California and could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned

Santa Barbara County Fire Department/AP

11/50 4 March 2019

Members of Unidos da Tijuca samba school perform during the first night of Rio’s Carnival at the Sambadrome

AFP/Getty

12/50 3 March 2019

The SpaceX team in Hawthorne watches as the SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station’s Harmony module. SpaceX’s new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day

Nasa/AP

13/50 2 March 2019

US Senator Bernie Sanders (centre) waves to supporters at a rally to kick off his 2020 US presidential campaign, in the Brooklyn borough of New York

AFP/Getty

14/50 1 March 2019

Destroyed and deserted buildings are seen at the scene of ongoing fighting between Somali soldiers and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali security forces have been exchanging gunfire with gunmen holed up in a building since previous night when a suicide car bomb exploded nearby

EPA

15/50 28 February 2019

Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian national flag during an anti-India protest in Peshawar on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to “stand as a wall” with anger boiling over Pakistan’s capture of a pilot as a crisis escalates between the nuclear-armed rivals. In his first remarks since India and Pakistan both claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, the prime minister urged his countrymen to unite “as the enemy seeks to destabilise India

AFP/Getty

16/50 27 February 2019

US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi

AFP/Getty

17/50 26 February 2019

An Indian paramilitary solider fires tear gas shell towards Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar. They were protesting against raids on key separatist leaders by Indian intelligence officers

AP

18/50 25 February 2019

US President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation’s Governors in the State Dining Room. Trump spoke about the Chinese trade deal, the proposed border wall, and his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un

EPA

19/50 24 February 2019

Rami Malek (left) winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role award for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody, Olivia Colman (second left) winner of Best Actress for ‘The Favourite,’ Mahershala Ali (right) winner of Best Supporting Actor for ‘Green Book,’ and Regina King (second right) winner of Best Supporting Actress for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ pose during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood

EPA

20/50 23 February 2019

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather to take part in a rally in Caracas, Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade

AFP/Getty

21/50 22 February 2019

A worker walks amongst piles of rubbish at a garbage dump in Blang Bintang, near Banda Aceh

AFP/Getty

22/50 21 February 2019

Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Dhaka. At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said

AFP/Getty

23/50 20 February 2019

Children ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces recapture of the territory

AP

24/50 19 February 2019

Bangladeshi Muslim devotees leave by train after taking part in the Akheri Munajat, or final prayers, at the Biswa Ijtema in Tongi. Several million Muslim devotees from around the world join the four-day long event that ends with a special prayer on the final day

AFP/Getty

25/50 18 February 2019

Flames and smoke billows from a residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants.

AP

26/50 17 February 2019

People walk down the Champs-Elysees avenue on February protest, called by the yellow vest (gilets jaunes) movement, against French President’s policies and top-down style of governing, high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more “social and economic justice.”

AFP/Getty

27/50 16 February 2019

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assault’s overall commander Jia Furat (C) answers the press near the Omar oil field in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province. Kurdish-led forces said they were holding up the announcement of final victory over the Islamic State group for “a few days” because the large number of civilians remaining on the battlefield had forced a delay.

AFP/Getty

28/50 15 February 2019

Demonstrators overturn a car during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Jammu

Reuters

29/50 14 February 2019

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama reacts as ink is thrown at him by members of the opposition during parliamentary session in Tirana

Reuters

30/50 13 February 2019

A man cleans a car from snow during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia

Reuters

31/50 12 February 2019

A general view shows the Hotel Arpit Palace after a fire broke out on its premises in New Delhi. At least 17 people died on February 12 as a fire tore through the budget hotel in Delhi before dawn, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.

AFP/Getty

32/50 11 February 2019

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India’s main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, greets her supporters from atop a vehicle during a roadshow in Lucknow, India,

Reuters

33/50 10 February 2019

Female artists dominated the Grammys with Alicia Keys opening the show up by inviting her “sisters” Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and Jada Pinkett Smith onto the stage. “Every voice we hear deserves to be honoured and respected,” said Pinkett Smith. “Tonight we celebrate the greatest in each other, through all of us, through music,” added Alicia Keys. “Who runs the world?” The most notable female triumph was Cardi B’s. The only woman in her category, competing against Nipsey Hussle, Pusha T, Travis Scott and Mac Miller, Cardi won Best Rap Album for her playfully inventive debut Invasion of Privacy. This made her the first female solo artist in history to win in the category

Reuters

34/50 9 February 2019

35/50 8 February 2019

Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich (C-L) submits the election registration form to an officer at the Election Commission in Bangkok, Thailand. A political party linked with Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Raksa Chart Party nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as prime minister candidate for the upcoming general election. Thailand is set to hold a general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup.

EPA

36/50 7 February 2019

Technicians set up material and work on the western section of the remains of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on the eve of the official start of the demolition work

AFP/Getty

37/50 6 February 2019

Rescue workers and people try to remove debris of an eight-story building which collapsed in Istanbul which killed at least one person and trapped several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said

AP

38/50 5 February 2019

For many President Trump’s State of the Union address was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as “sarcastic”

AFP/Getty

39/50 4 February 2019

Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year’s Kumbh, which runs through early March

AP

40/50 3 February 2019

Tom Brady celebrates after New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

USA TODAY Sports

41/50 2 February 2019

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela

Reuters

42/50 1 February 2019

Palestinians perform Friday prayers as smoke rises from burning tires during a protest against Jewish settlements, in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

AFP/Getty

43/50 31 January 2019

Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, US. Businesses and schools have closed, Amtrak has suspended service into the city, more than a thousand flights have been cancelled and mail delivery has been suspended as the city copes with record-setting low temperatures

Getty

44/50 30 January 2019

Man moves luggage in snow during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York

Reuters

45/50 29 January 2019

Firemen try to extinguish burning cars at the scene where a car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia

Reuters

46/50 28 January 2019

A tornado and pounding rains smashed into the eastern part of Cuba’s capital overnight, toppling trees, bending power poles and flinging shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut a path of destruction across eastern Havana

AP

47/50 27 January 2019

Policemen and soldiers keep watch as body bags (in white), containing the remains of blast victims, as seen in a cordoned area outside a church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao. At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region

AFP/Getty

48/50 26 January 2019

Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery (L and R) and a locomotive (C) after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil’s giant mining company Vale, near the town of Brumadinho in southeastern Brazil

AFP/Getty

49/50 25 January 2019

Indian police personnel block unemployed Indian teachers, as they march towards the residence of Punjab Education Minister Om Parkash Soni during a protest against the Punjab state government to demand jobs in Amritsar

AFP/Getty

50/50 24 January 2019

Supporters of newly elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi cheer as they arrive to attend his Presidential Inauguration in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest country, marking the country’s first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections

AFP/Getty

1/50 14 March 2019

Relatives of crash victims mourn and grieve at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday killing all 157 on board, south-east of Addis Ababa. The French air accident investigation authority said that it will handle the analysis of the black boxes retrieved from the crash site and they have already arrived in France but gave no time frame on how long the analysis could take

AP

2/50 13 March 2019

Men carry a child who was rescued at the site of a collapsed building containing a school in Lagos, Nigeria

Reuters

3/50 12 March 2019

A crab stuck in plastic in Verde Island Passage, Philippines. According to data from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Filipinos dispose 163 million pieces of single-use plastic sachets daily. An underwater exploration conducted by Greenpeace in Batangas, found single-use plastic sachets between, beneath, and on the corals and seabed of Verde Island Passage, the epicenter of marine biodiversity in the world

EPA

4/50 11 March 2019

Representatives of bereaved families from the affected prefecture offer flowers at an altar for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during the 8th national memorial service in Tokyo on. On March 11, 2011 a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake struck under the Pacific Ocean and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.

AFP/Getty

5/50 10 March 2019

South Sudanese Catholic faithful believers attend a church service in Udier town

AFP/Getty

6/50 9 March 2019

Activists of Ukrainian nationalist parties scuffle with police officers during a rally to demand an investigation into the corruption of Ukraine’s armed forces officials, in Kiev

Reuters

7/50 8 March 2019

Algerian protesters demonstrate against their ailing president’s bid for a fifth term in power, in Algiers

AFP/Getty

8/50 7 March 2019

French gendarmes arrive for evacuation as prison guards block the entrance to the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France, two days after a prison inmate seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid. – The prison of Alencon / Conde-sur-Sarthe, where two guards were seriously stabbed on March 5 by a radicalized detainee, was blocked again on March 7 by about a hundred prison guards.

AFP/Getty

9/50 6 March 2019

Hindu devotees participate in a traditional activity known locally as “Perang Api” or fire war one day ahead of Nyepi in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Devotees in Indonesia will celebrate Nyepi day or the “Day of Silence” on March 7, the first day of the Saka Lunar calendar

AFP/Getty

10/50 5 March 2019

Time exposure photo shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara seen from Stearns Wharf in the city’s harbor. The storm soaked California and could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned

Santa Barbara County Fire Department/AP

11/50 4 March 2019

Members of Unidos da Tijuca samba school perform during the first night of Rio’s Carnival at the Sambadrome

AFP/Getty

12/50 3 March 2019

The SpaceX team in Hawthorne watches as the SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station’s Harmony module. SpaceX’s new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day

Nasa/AP

13/50 2 March 2019

US Senator Bernie Sanders (centre) waves to supporters at a rally to kick off his 2020 US presidential campaign, in the Brooklyn borough of New York

AFP/Getty

14/50 1 March 2019

Destroyed and deserted buildings are seen at the scene of ongoing fighting between Somali soldiers and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali security forces have been exchanging gunfire with gunmen holed up in a building since previous night when a suicide car bomb exploded nearby

EPA

15/50 28 February 2019

Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian national flag during an anti-India protest in Peshawar on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to “stand as a wall” with anger boiling over Pakistan’s capture of a pilot as a crisis escalates between the nuclear-armed rivals. In his first remarks since India and Pakistan both claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, the prime minister urged his countrymen to unite “as the enemy seeks to destabilise India

AFP/Getty

16/50 27 February 2019

US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi

AFP/Getty

17/50 26 February 2019

An Indian paramilitary solider fires tear gas shell towards Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar. They were protesting against raids on key separatist leaders by Indian intelligence officers

AP

18/50 25 February 2019

US President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation’s Governors in the State Dining Room. Trump spoke about the Chinese trade deal, the proposed border wall, and his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un

EPA

19/50 24 February 2019

Rami Malek (left) winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role award for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody, Olivia Colman (second left) winner of Best Actress for ‘The Favourite,’ Mahershala Ali (right) winner of Best Supporting Actor for ‘Green Book,’ and Regina King (second right) winner of Best Supporting Actress for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ pose during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood

EPA

20/50 23 February 2019

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather to take part in a rally in Caracas, Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade

AFP/Getty

21/50 22 February 2019

A worker walks amongst piles of rubbish at a garbage dump in Blang Bintang, near Banda Aceh

AFP/Getty

22/50 21 February 2019

Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Dhaka. At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said

AFP/Getty

23/50 20 February 2019

Children ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces recapture of the territory

AP

24/50 19 February 2019

Bangladeshi Muslim devotees leave by train after taking part in the Akheri Munajat, or final prayers, at the Biswa Ijtema in Tongi. Several million Muslim devotees from around the world join the four-day long event that ends with a special prayer on the final day

AFP/Getty

25/50 18 February 2019

Flames and smoke billows from a residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants.

AP

26/50 17 February 2019

People walk down the Champs-Elysees avenue on February protest, called by the yellow vest (gilets jaunes) movement, against French President’s policies and top-down style of governing, high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more “social and economic justice.”

AFP/Getty

27/50 16 February 2019

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assault’s overall commander Jia Furat (C) answers the press near the Omar oil field in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province. Kurdish-led forces said they were holding up the announcement of final victory over the Islamic State group for “a few days” because the large number of civilians remaining on the battlefield had forced a delay.

AFP/Getty

28/50 15 February 2019

Demonstrators overturn a car during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Jammu

Reuters

29/50 14 February 2019

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama reacts as ink is thrown at him by members of the opposition during parliamentary session in Tirana

Reuters

30/50 13 February 2019

A man cleans a car from snow during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia

Reuters

31/50 12 February 2019

A general view shows the Hotel Arpit Palace after a fire broke out on its premises in New Delhi. At least 17 people died on February 12 as a fire tore through the budget hotel in Delhi before dawn, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.

AFP/Getty

32/50 11 February 2019

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India’s main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, greets her supporters from atop a vehicle during a roadshow in Lucknow, India,

Reuters

33/50 10 February 2019

Female artists dominated the Grammys with Alicia Keys opening the show up by inviting her “sisters” Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and Jada Pinkett Smith onto the stage. “Every voice we hear deserves to be honoured and respected,” said Pinkett Smith. “Tonight we celebrate the greatest in each other, through all of us, through music,” added Alicia Keys. “Who runs the world?” The most notable female triumph was Cardi B’s. The only woman in her category, competing against Nipsey Hussle, Pusha T, Travis Scott and Mac Miller, Cardi won Best Rap Album for her playfully inventive debut Invasion of Privacy. This made her the first female solo artist in history to win in the category

Reuters

34/50 9 February 2019

35/50 8 February 2019

Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich (C-L) submits the election registration form to an officer at the Election Commission in Bangkok, Thailand. A political party linked with Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Raksa Chart Party nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as prime minister candidate for the upcoming general election. Thailand is set to hold a general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup.

EPA

36/50 7 February 2019

Technicians set up material and work on the western section of the remains of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on the eve of the official start of the demolition work

AFP/Getty

37/50 6 February 2019

Rescue workers and people try to remove debris of an eight-story building which collapsed in Istanbul which killed at least one person and trapped several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said

AP

38/50 5 February 2019

For many President Trump’s State of the Union address was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as “sarcastic”

AFP/Getty

39/50 4 February 2019

Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year’s Kumbh, which runs through early March

AP

40/50 3 February 2019

Tom Brady celebrates after New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

USA TODAY Sports

41/50 2 February 2019

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela

Reuters

42/50 1 February 2019

Palestinians perform Friday prayers as smoke rises from burning tires during a protest against Jewish settlements, in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

AFP/Getty

43/50 31 January 2019

Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, US. Businesses and schools have closed, Amtrak has suspended service into the city, more than a thousand flights have been cancelled and mail delivery has been suspended as the city copes with record-setting low temperatures

Getty

44/50 30 January 2019

Man moves luggage in snow during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York

Reuters

45/50 29 January 2019

Firemen try to extinguish burning cars at the scene where a car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia

Reuters

46/50 28 January 2019

A tornado and pounding rains smashed into the eastern part of Cuba’s capital overnight, toppling trees, bending power poles and flinging shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut a path of destruction across eastern Havana

AP

47/50 27 January 2019

Policemen and soldiers keep watch as body bags (in white), containing the remains of blast victims, as seen in a cordoned area outside a church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao. At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region

AFP/Getty

48/50 26 January 2019

Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery (L and R) and a locomotive (C) after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil’s giant mining company Vale, near the town of Brumadinho in southeastern Brazil

AFP/Getty

49/50 25 January 2019

Indian police personnel block unemployed Indian teachers, as they march towards the residence of Punjab Education Minister Om Parkash Soni during a protest against the Punjab state government to demand jobs in Amritsar

AFP/Getty

50/50 24 January 2019

Supporters of newly elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi cheer as they arrive to attend his Presidential Inauguration in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest country, marking the country’s first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections

AFP/Getty

Others witnesses told the New Zealand Herald they had heard more than two dozen gunshots.

Canterbury Police said on Twitter: “We have a critical incident in Deans Ave Christchurch. Please avoid the area. We will give more in the near future.”

Members of the Bangladesh cricket team were reportedly caught up in the incident.

RNZ reported that a second mosque in the suburb of Linwood was also swarmed by armed police.

New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said in a statement: “Police are responding [at] full capability to manage the situation, but the risk environment remains extremely high.

“Police recommend that residents across Christchurch remain off the streets and indoors until further notice. Christchurch schools will be locked down until further notice.”

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“Horrified to hear of Christchurch mosque shootings. There is never a justification for that sort of hatred,” said Amy Adams, a member of parliament from the city.

As well as locking down schools, police have reportedly cleared Cathedral Square, where children were staging a climate change protest.

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